


Time To Think

by smooth_operaptor



Series: whumptober [2]
Category: XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, I am truly taken by Solaris, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Psychic Abilities, Whumptober, waypoint xcom streams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 08:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16214999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smooth_operaptor/pseuds/smooth_operaptor
Summary: Ryo has some alone time.





	Time To Think

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to Jude, again :D

This mission went to shit a long time ago. Probably soon after he’d jumped through a window like a _rookie_ and gotten the enemies attention. There were only a few precious moments left to evacuate everyone before the Firebrand had to retreat. Most of the others were hurt but would still make it to the evac zone. Heinrich was bound by a fucking snake on a roof behind them.

In the split second while everyone stood still, Ryo had a crystal clear image of the perimeter in his mind. Down below, overseeing the evac point, was a Stun Lancer ready to strike.

_‘I’m gonna get them,’_ a voice crackled between his ears.

He felt the anticipation and the spite. They were not his own. He set off on a sprint.

The blast caught him in the side but wasn’t able to halt him. Breathing heavily, he hefted the gun upwards and shot at the Lancer. The body arced farther than foreseen. His mind felt a bit calmer.

Ryo slumped back against the wall. Across the water, unreachably far, Lieutenant Kong ushered the others into the Firebrand.

They locked eyes. Kong nodded.

_‘We’re coming for you.’_

Behind him, he heard Heinrich scream, but his comrade didn’t yet die. A Purifier droppped down next to him.

“Advent interceptors within striking distance in 30 seconds, Firebrand, clear the area!”

Then the comms cut out.

Static.

 

No matter how insignificant his role had been, XCOM clung to him. He wasn’t trusted to be with other prisoners, especially Resistance. Yet he had no intel they could beat out of him and their Priests grew tired quickly, so they locked him in a dark, quiet cell and let him be until they could make use of him.

He had only himself, his thoughts and a mediocre nutrient sludge for weeks. Fear and remorse gnawed at him until he couldn’t bear to stay in his own head any longer.  
It was an onslaught on his senses. With nothing to distract him and no one to connect to, his mind reached out as far as it could. There were partols guarding the underground compound, their thoughts a sharp crackle even through the walls. Mechs were a dull and hollow hum in the background. They reminded him of the tinny chirps of his drone. He could only hope that the little friend had escaped.

He tried to sense Heinrich, but the guy was either kept somewhere else or already dead.

Above him was only a thick, impenetrable layer of soil. No way to see the sky or the sun. The air down here was stale. It was suffocating.

A Priest neared and he retreated as far into himself as he could. Their purple energy was searing, even when he hid in his body. He noticed the ache only bit by bit. How long had he been gone? Why was his body already this weak? (Probably always had been.)

(That was why he’d been so clumsy, too slow, not worth to rescue yet. Scared.)

 

There was no sun. Ryo taught himself to tell time by the guards patrol patterns. When he let his mind wander, he was out shorter than he’d thought. He spent a disproportionate amount of his days asleep, though his dreams weren’t much of a respite.

One day, he was led out into a tunnel and packed into a transport. The cold metal walls smelled like fear. The handcuffs bit into his wrists until he was too scared to move.

Maybe they’d changed their mind. He wasn’t worth keeping anymore. XCOM certainly didn’t take the bait. There hadn’t been any rescue attempts as far as he could sense. Maybe he’d been caught wandering by one of the Priests. They would find some use for his abilities. So this was it.

They arrived in a hangar. A gust of fresh air out of the elevator told him they were much closer to the surface here. Advent soldiers closed in on him, weapons at the ready. A baton hit Ryo in the legs and he lurched forward into a sprint. He got quite a ways away before he was caught again. They left him in a stupor in his new cell.

Perhaps he was punished, but he was too far off to notice.

Something had caught his attenion and he snaked his way along the wall up above ground and up towards the roof of the building, the highest building of the facility and up, up, up, towards the sun. He reached with a dozen intangible hands, higher and higher, until the sun was at his fingertips, on the tip of his tongue, on the forefront of his mind.

Ryo opened himself to the psychic maelstrom.

Solaris arrived.

 

When he came to, the sun was just setting over an unfamiliar city. He felt dazed and there was a deep chill creeping into his bones. He could hear Advent soldiers near, although he couldn’t understand or localize them. In fact, he could only see as far as his eyes could reach. Everything else was a sepia haze. What was happening?  
Something from above almost hit him in the head. XCOM was down in seconds and he was surrounded by muscly, heavily armored men. He felt feeble in his simple hoodie.

“You alright there, bud?” Kong nodded at him. “We’re gonna get you home in no time.”

 

His welcome back was a clammy handshake and a new drone. Its hum thrummed in his ears and he was glad to concentrate on that. There were too many people. Most of them wary of him. Others too new to remember him. Their whispers hissed whenever he turned his back.

‘That’s him? Are we sure?’

He got through a whole evening before he rushed to the armory. When he pressed the mask to his face, it felt like he could breathe again.

 

‘Its me, Ryo,’ he tried. 

‘This is me. Its your friend Ryo, from before?’

‘Everyone remembers me, Ryo. Okamoto.’

Ryo Okamoto was weak, he wasn’t strong, like Solaris.

 

He took to working out in the training center. Soon, he didn’t need the mask around the base. He could show this face around people. 

He was always faithful to XCOM and the soldiers, he just needed some time to build some trust back up, right? No matter what they thought of him or what dreams they had around him.

Of _course_ he was the real Ryo. He remembered his first two missions. He had those memories.

Ryo Okamoto was back and better than ever.

They had a Psy Lab up and running in a matter of days.


End file.
